American accents?

TheCats_Meow

Louisiana accent - hilarious.

Hilarious in a good or bad way? :laugh:

I was born & raised there but haven't lived there for 10+ years yet I still hear the Louisiana accent ALL the time!

Kelico528

I'm from NZ and have not mastered the art of pinpointing where an American is from.
I frequently mistake Americans for Canadians, and vice versa. Sorry!!!

How can you tell the difference?

Ask them to say house. An American will say "howse" and a Canadian will say "houuse". Same thing with couch, "cowch" or "couuch."

JennaM222

SWAMP PEOPLE

pucenavel

I'm from NZ and have not mastered the art of pinpointing where an American is from.
I frequently mistake Americans for Canadians, and vice versa. Sorry!!!

How can you tell the difference?

The Canadian is quite so arrogant.:laugh:

Oops!! I mean ISN'T!

ashleynicoleb

I love me some southern charm.... Don't know what it is! My ex was from the south and I loved the way he talked.

Phoenix1401

@PHOENIX1401

Was this really necessary? It was just their opinion. which they were as free to give as you were. Yikes! Let's be kind to one another, people

You may be interested to know that not EVERYONE realizes that there are different types of Texan accents. So please refrain from name-calling. It is so unbecoming.....and definitely NOT in the spirit of MyFitnessPal

Blaaah blaaah blaaaah yep it was necessary so

jacalou

I'm from NZ and have not mastered the art of pinpointing where an American is from.
I frequently mistake Americans for Canadians, and vice versa. Sorry!!!

How can you tell the difference?

Hey! I'm married to a Kiwi - born in Wellington, moved to Canada and has lived in the States for many years. His dad is a Kiwi and his mum is a Yorkshire lass. He sounds like he comes from Boston. He says things like "pahk" instead of park. And the one thing that is funny is how he says "pawn" - always sounds like "porn" - yikes!

One way to tell a Canadian from an American is the word "about." Canadians will say " a-boot." Or the word "sorry". Americans will say something like "sar-ee" Canadians say something that sounds a bit more like "soar-ee." Some Americans will drop the "ing" sound, as in "ski-en" instead of skiing, but I don't think Canadians do that as much. Of course, this all goes out the window if you are talking about folks from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia (and the francophones!)

honeysprinkles

I'm from New Zealand - we get lots of different American (and British) TV shows so we here 'Boston Legal' accent, 'CSI Miami' accent, 'True Blood' accent etc. etc. Of course how accurate the actors are is another matter. On True Blood, for example, most of the actors aren't from the States originally.

PS - to reiterate - yes, you really do have an accent! EVERYONE has an accent of some kind - you might just sound like most of the people you live near... but move you to another state or another English speaking country and people would notice!

Nobody on 'CSI Miami' has an accent that is typical of Miami or Florida. They basically have neutral American accents. It is funny to think of those TV shows representing different cities to the rest of the world, though!

Lol. In Florida, you've got either Southern/red neck accents, Hispanic accents (especially in Miami where a lot of people speak Spanish) or the "neutral" accent for lack of a better word (just meaning the way you'll hear most people in the US talk on tv shows, commercials, etc.)

jacalou

I'm from NZ and have not mastered the art of pinpointing where an American is from.
I frequently mistake Americans for Canadians, and vice versa. Sorry!!!

How can you tell the difference?

Hey! I'm married to a Kiwi - born in Wellington, moved to Canada and has lived in the States for many years. His dad is a Kiwi and his mum is a Yorkshire lass. He sounds like he comes from Boston. He says things like "pahk" instead of park. And the one thing that is funny is how he says "pawn" - always sounds like "porn" - yikes!

One way to tell a Canadian from an American is the word "about." Canadians will say " a-boot." Or the word "sorry". Americans will say something like "sar-ee" Canadians say something that sounds a bit more like "soar-ee." Some Americans will drop the "ing" sound, as in "ski-en" instead of skiing, but I don't think Canadians do that as much. Of course, this all goes out the window if you are talking about folks from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia (and the francophones!)

Sorry, there... but as a Canadian... for about as far back as a family of Canadians can go... I know noone who says "a-boot". And I am not sticking to one region of Canada, either.

The Canadian accent is varied and mostly (with the East-Coast exception) you can tell where people are from based on the choices of words they make... do you say teeter-totter or see-saw, tap or faucet, stroller, carriage or pram? These are all give-a-aways as to where you live.

AussieNikki

I'm an Aussie living in North Carolina. Southern Accents make me giggle a little! My hubby's is very mild in comparison to his family though.

I would have to say my favourite accent is from around the Dakota's, like how they talk on Fargo!

hehehe

HeidiMightyRawr

I'm not great with distinguishing between American accents very well. To me there's a general US accent, (the ones you get on most american comedies), which doesn't sound that strong that I'd find most pleasant....
...and then there's the strong southern accent which are the ones I find the most annoying.

I realise there's more than 2 different accents but being not from America I can't find them myself.

To the person saying all British people sound smart. You obviously haven't been to some parts of England ! :laugh: People have already mentioned the West country and Essex. Also, a lot of the chavs you have here you definitely wouldn't think they sounded smart!

I get a kick of how chavs talk. Aren't they the ones that say "innit"? I can tell Keira Knightley talks different than say Lily Allen or Victoria Beckham. One of my paramedics is originally from Yorkshire and he sounds way different than anything I've ever heard. I like how they talk up there lol.

:laugh: Yeah they say "innit" and a whole load of other things I don't get. Just watch the "Jeremy Kyle Show" if you're not from the UK (youtube has clips) It's full of them and other British people who most definitely do not sound smart! Haha!

TNGirlyGirl

I was born in Canada to Euro parents, moved to AZ in 3rd grade, went to college in TX, lived in CA, spent 4 years in OK before coming to TN 17 years ago. I have a little bit of all of those mixed in.... nobody agrees on what I sound like, but everyone agrees I don't sound like I'm from "around here" LOL

I'm a sucker for any accent other than mine, except Boston, NY, or Joisy (sorry, ya'll), but high-British, Irish and Aussie make me melt every time!!

Natashaa1991

i speak in pure american accent (even though im not from america) but i hate it, i use "r" too much, like when i say water, i say "wa-d-rrrr" and my friend from england says "wo-tah" it's like two different words.
tried to speak british and i sound ridiculous.
too bad, its so damn sexy

catshark209

I'm not great with distinguishing between American accents very well. To me there's a general US accent, (the ones you get on most american comedies), which doesn't sound that strong that I'd find most pleasant....
...and then there's the strong southern accent which are the ones I find the most annoying.

I realise there's more than 2 different accents but being not from America I can't find them myself.

To the person saying all British people sound smart. You obviously haven't been to some parts of England ! :laugh: People have already mentioned the West country and Essex. Also, a lot of the chavs you have here you definitely wouldn't think they sounded smart!

I get a kick of how chavs talk. Aren't they the ones that say "innit"? I can tell Keira Knightley talks different than say Lily Allen or Victoria Beckham. One of my paramedics is originally from Yorkshire and he sounds way different than anything I've ever heard. I like how they talk up there lol.

:laugh: Yeah they say "innit" and a whole load of other things I don't get. Just watch the "Jeremy Kyle Show" if you're not from the UK (youtube has clips) It's full of them and other British people who most definitely do not sound smart! Haha!

I'm gonna look it up. My son found Chav Pingu on youtube and omg...:laugh:

TubbsMcGee

My dad's side of the family is all from the States, so I always find myself giggling at the way they pronounce certain words

"Wolf" -- the L is dropped and it comes out as Woof

"Roof" -- the oo sound is changed so that it sounds like Ruff

And a lot of New Yorkers exchange "ay" for "ah" words, like saying "it HAYppened yesterday" instead of "happened" , and occasionally omit the R's in words and choose to say "awh"

I'm Canadian, so usually whenever someone from the US finds that out, they feel the need to make me say "about" (apparently some Canucks say "aboot") :laugh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF1b1pf9DRY

HeidiMightyRawr

I'm not great with distinguishing between American accents very well. To me there's a general US accent, (the ones you get on most american comedies), which doesn't sound that strong that I'd find most pleasant....
...and then there's the strong southern accent which are the ones I find the most annoying.

I realise there's more than 2 different accents but being not from America I can't find them myself.

To the person saying all British people sound smart. You obviously haven't been to some parts of England ! :laugh: People have already mentioned the West country and Essex. Also, a lot of the chavs you have here you definitely wouldn't think they sounded smart!

I get a kick of how chavs talk. Aren't they the ones that say "innit"? I can tell Keira Knightley talks different than say Lily Allen or Victoria Beckham. One of my paramedics is originally from Yorkshire and he sounds way different than anything I've ever heard. I like how they talk up there lol.

:laugh: Yeah they say "innit" and a whole load of other things I don't get. Just watch the "Jeremy Kyle Show" if you're not from the UK (youtube has clips) It's full of them and other British people who most definitely do not sound smart! Haha!

I'm gonna look it up. My son found Chav Pingu on youtube and omg...:laugh:

LOL I've seen that before but had forgotten all about it! I want to go watch it again now! Was so funny. :happy:

ummlovelovesyou

I found the accent from the west coast the best and most pleasant. Again... no clue why, haha.

Representin' the west coast baby! :drinker:

aweightymatter

This thread was fun! I don't really find an accent hot or annoying so much as the tone of the person. If you have a high, naselly (sp?) voice, even a sexy Aussie accent will be annoying.

I do have to agree with the person about the asian accent. I do not find it appealling at all. And yes, it's probably because the asians I have encountered have been very rude. Am I assuming they are all like that, probably. (My bad) But it is no different then the posters who don't like the "Joisy" accent because of Snooki. This was a post asking peoples opinion. If you don't want to hear what we have to say, don't read the thread!

I am from Michigan and I approve this thread! :laugh: (So lets all go get a "pop" & discuss this! LOL)

I was reading the thread because its original topic was what people outside the U.S. think of U.S. accents -- not what Americans think of foreigners' accents when they try to speak English in the U.S.

Also, the opinion requested was about accents, not about certain entire ethnic groups being rude... Actually, it's even a fallacy to refer to all "Asians" as an ethnic group because there are so many countries in Asia.

I honestly feel sorry for you having such a narrow world view that you have formulated an opinion of an entire continent of people based on encounters with maybe a couple rude *East Asians*. (I'm guessing that's who you encountered. Did you know what specific country they were from?)

There is no such thing as an "Asian" accent. Asia is an entire continent, perhaps even including some nearby islands depending on your geographical view. Someone who's immigrated to the U.S. and is originally from, say, Indonesia isn't going to look or speak English like someone from Japan.

So, based on your post, should I assume all Michiganders are ____ and say, it's okay because it's my opinion?

That said, Snooki is from Poughkeepsie, New York. So she doesn't even represent a Jersey accent. The show was just called 'Jersey Shore' originally because it's about people who are NOT from the Jersey Shore who vacation there.

rml_16

My dad's side of the family is all from the States, so I always find myself giggling at the way they pronounce certain words

"Wolf" -- the L is dropped and it comes out as Woof

"Roof" -- the oo sound is changed so that it sounds like Ruff

And a lot of New Yorkers exchange "ay" for "ah" words, like saying "it HAYppened yesterday" instead of "happened" , and occasionally omit the R's in words and choose to say "awh"

I'm Canadian, so usually whenever someone from the US finds that out, they feel the need to make me say "about" (apparently some Canucks say "aboot") :laugh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF1b1pf9DRY

I grew up in New York state and I have never heard anyone from there who sounded like that. It must be a very specific part of the state that you hear those pronunciations. I grew up in Chemung County and have family in Buffalo and Albany. I also know a lot of people from several other areas of the state and NONE of them say "HAYpenned." It would sound so weird to me, I'd notice for sure. I also don't know anyone who omits the Rs in words or says "woof" for "wolf" or "ruff" for "roof."

Definitely not a "New York" thing.

voluptas63

I'm from Iowa. Here, we don't have accents.

rml_16

I was born in Canada to Euro parents, moved to AZ in 3rd grade, went to college in TX, lived in CA, spent 4 years in OK before coming to TN 17 years ago. I have a little bit of all of those mixed in.... nobody agrees on what I sound like, but everyone agrees I don't sound like I'm from "around here" LOL

I'm a sucker for any accent other than mine, except Boston, NY, or Joisy (sorry, ya'll), but high-British, Irish and Aussie make me melt every time!!

That "Joisy" accent is actually a Long Island or Brooklyn accent. People actually from New Jersey don't sound like that.

Lucia_Armstrong1973

Wow! From Michigan and didn't even realize we have any particular accent.

Everyone in the world has an accent...

Thanks.

Lucia_Armstrong1973

I was born in Canada to Euro parents, moved to AZ in 3rd grade, went to college in TX, lived in CA, spent 4 years in OK before coming to TN 17 years ago. I have a little bit of all of those mixed in.... nobody agrees on what I sound like, but everyone agrees I don't sound like I'm from "around here" LOL

I'm a sucker for any accent other than mine, except Boston, NY, or Joisy (sorry, ya'll), but high-British, Irish and Aussie make me melt every time!!

That "Joisy" accent is actually a Long Island or Brooklyn accent. People actually from New Jersey don't sound like that.

Jon Stewart's from New Jersey and doesn't sound anything like that....

laughingdani

I'm from the southern most part of Alabama. I say "y'all" and "fixing to". I was once told I sound like Daisy Duke. LOL I took it as a compliment. : )

For the most part I enjoy all accents. I think it's because I have friends from all over the world so each accent reminds me of someone. The southern accent is most comforting to me because it sounds like home. The Minnesota accent reminds me of my dad. There's not any accent I particularly dislike...just a few I find more difficult to understand.

I enjoy an English accent as well. Also, the Ukrainian accent is nice. I have friends from there and I spent a few weeks in Kiev when I was 19. So, I think a person's opinion on liking or disliking an accent is based on experiences.

I will say one thing I dislike is stereotypes. I'm from the south, but I'm not stupid.

TubbsMcGee

My dad's side of the family is all from the States, so I always find myself giggling at the way they pronounce certain words

"Wolf" -- the L is dropped and it comes out as Woof

"Roof" -- the oo sound is changed so that it sounds like Ruff

And a lot of New Yorkers exchange "ay" for "ah" words, like saying "it HAYppened yesterday" instead of "happened" , and occasionally omit the R's in words and choose to say "awh"

I'm Canadian, so usually whenever someone from the US finds that out, they feel the need to make me say "about" (apparently some Canucks say "aboot") :laugh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF1b1pf9DRY

I grew up in New York state and I have never heard anyone from there who sounded like that. It must be a very specific part of the state that you hear those pronunciations. I grew up in Chemung County and have family in Buffalo and Albany. I also know a lot of people from several other areas of the state and NONE of them say "HAYpenned." It would sound so weird to me, I'd notice for sure. I also don't know anyone who omits the Rs in words or says "woof" for "wolf" or "ruff" for "roof."

Definitely not a "New York" thing.

Actually, every time I'm in Buffalo, EVERYONE I come into contact with seems to have this accent. Strange.

rml_16

My dad's side of the family is all from the States, so I always find myself giggling at the way they pronounce certain words

"Wolf" -- the L is dropped and it comes out as Woof

"Roof" -- the oo sound is changed so that it sounds like Ruff

And a lot of New Yorkers exchange "ay" for "ah" words, like saying "it HAYppened yesterday" instead of "happened" , and occasionally omit the R's in words and choose to say "awh"

I'm Canadian, so usually whenever someone from the US finds that out, they feel the need to make me say "about" (apparently some Canucks say "aboot") :laugh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF1b1pf9DRY

I grew up in New York state and I have never heard anyone from there who sounded like that. It must be a very specific part of the state that you hear those pronunciations. I grew up in Chemung County and have family in Buffalo and Albany. I also know a lot of people from several other areas of the state and NONE of them say "HAYpenned." It would sound so weird to me, I'd notice for sure. I also don't know anyone who omits the Rs in words or says "woof" for "wolf" or "ruff" for "roof."

Definitely not a "New York" thing.

Actually, every time I'm in Buffalo, EVERYONE I come into contact with seems to have this accent. Strange.

Interesting. My mother was born and raised there, along with her sister and all my cousins, aunts and uncles on her side of the family (my dad's family moved there when he was 12). I lived there for five years. I never heard anyone speak that way.

The one part of Buffalo where they may sound like that is Cheektowaga, though. If you spent a lot of time in that 'burb, that might be why you hear that a lot. The majority of people in that 'burb are of Polish descent and have a strong accent. They say things like "yous guys." You don't hear that in other parts of Western New York quite so much.

slay0r

oh, you have a british accent? excuse me while i take my clothes off.

i dislike every american accent :grumble:

Woohoo I've pulled!

smitty328

SWAMP PEOPLE

YES!!!!

HazelElfwand

I'm from NZ and have not mastered the art of pinpointing where an American is from.
I frequently mistake Americans for Canadians, and vice versa. Sorry!!!

How can you tell the difference?

Oh no no no lol Americans sound very different from us Canadians. The maritimes (Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland) are the only provinces that have accents. The typical "Aboot" instead of "About". We don't say "Eh", but I do say things like "I saw that too, it was nice hey?!"

I find the mid-west accent to be typically American sounding - that and Boston, New Jersey and New York. "Baagel (Bagel)" "Melk (Milk)" "Ruf (Roof)" "Draw (Drawer)". Those from Washington state and Montana and some of Cali have no accent at all to me. (I'm from Western Canada).

I LOVE Southern accents - they are BY FAR my favorite - right up there with Australian mmmmmhmmm!

teagin2002

Southern accents and fun to listen to, but difficult to understand, Northern accents are a bit annoying and rough. West coast ascents are the easiest to understand and have a nice conversation with.